What is a fractal?

A fractal is a mathematical set of numbers that typically displays self-similar patterns, which means it is “the same from near as from far”. Benoit B. Mandelbrot (1924-2010) was a French American mathematician known as the “father of fractal geometry”

Mandelbrot said “Many forms in nature can be described mathematically as fractals”. A term that he coined to define shapes that looked jagged and broken. He said you can create a fractal by taking a smooth looking shape and breaking it into pieces over and over again and it remains the same”.

We see fractals every day without even knowing it, take for example fractals in nature. When looking at a sunflower look at the pattern and how it draws you into the centre, the pattern is the same as you go deeper and deeper, it goes on and on with no end or beginning, infinite! A sea shell is another good example, see how it spirals to the centre. An acorn, a cauliflower, even in our bodies, our DNA and blood vessels, there is patterns, proportions and symmetry. When looking at things in nature, it would seem that it was all made up randomly and that there is no shape, form or order. When in fact there is order. Order out of chaos! It all involves symmetry, mathematics, sacred geometry, the golden mean, infinity, nature and life.

This is further explained in a book called Fractal Geometry of Nature by Benoit B Mandelbrot, if that’s to heavy going then click on the youtube links below.